CHICAGO – As an MMA fan who loves to dissect and predict major fights, Erik Koch considers next week’s UFC 156 headliner between featherweight champion Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar a can’t-miss event. But the fact he could be fighting the winner gives him an even bigger reason to head to Las Vegas.

Koch (13-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) doesn’t want to look too far into the future, but if victorious over fellow featherweight Ricardo Lamas (12-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) at Saturday’s UFC on FOX 6 event, the 24-year-old could be next up for a shot at the title.

So next week he’s heading to Sin City, where Aldo and Edgar headline a pay-per-view event at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

There, Koch expects the champ to reign victorious over Edgar, who heads to the featherweight division after a title run at lightweight and close losses to Benson Henderson.

“I think Aldo’s going to take him down,” Koch told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I just think it’s a bad matchup for Frankie. The first cut down to 145, it’s not the same as 155. He’s usually got that edge with the conditioning and being faster than everyone else, but he’s coming down to a division where guys are just as explosive and just as fast. I think it’s going to surprise him.”

Koch, in fact, doesn’t hide the fact he’s rooting for Aldo, a fellow WEC vet. After all, when you spend the better part of a year expecting to a fight guy, it’s not easy to let go of the matchup. Koch was expected to fight the champ at UFC 149 (and then at UFC 153), but injuries to both fighters scrapped the matchups, and Edgar ultimately took Koch’s spot against Aldo.

“It sucks,” Koch said. “It definitely sucks. That’s why last year was so high and low. I went from getting a title shot, and now I haven’t been able to fight for a year. It’s been up and down, but I picked up my head pretty quick. I just tried to say positive. The more I sulk about it, it’s not going to do anything.”

That led him to a matchup with Lamas, who’s carrying a three-fight win streak into Saturday’s event at Chicago’s United Center. Koch, who fights for the first time on network TV, said his main-card opponent is a “grinder” with a big gas tank, and a well-rounded fighter who’s proven he can bully the smaller competitors in the division.

Koch, though, said he isn’t one to be bullied. And after he proves it on Saturday, he’s heading to Vegas in hopes of seeing his future opponent. However, even though UFC President Dana White won’t officially declared his bout a title eliminator, and though the title shot was already his at one time, Koch isn’t complaining.

“It’s one of those things where I can’t really be that mad about it,” he said. “Just (with me) being inactive, this is a fast sport. It’s whoever’s winning at the time. … I’m not mad about it. I’m just more hungry than ever to get in there and fight and get going.

“I spent so much time training for him. With so much emotion in that camp, I have something to do. I have to fight Aldo.”